[abuchan43]

Re: Beko Fridge / Freezer fires

I had an engineer from Comet arrive last Thursday.
He changed the defrost timer and the case that it was in for one were the timer was mounted up the other way and the case had a grid in the bottom so that it can’t flood and short out the timer.
How the person who designed these fridge/freezers didn’t spot this design problem before beats me! A timer in a box with no drainage, open at the top and facing a possible source of water! It’s not rocket science is it!?

[abuchan43]

Re: Beko Fridge / Freezer fires

I’m impressed by Beko’s service.I emailed them about this problem last week and got a phone call to say that they would send someone to fix it this Thursday.
As the engineer is coming soon I’ve not looked deeper into the problem, but from what I can tell the problem is caused by the defrost timer which plugs into a socket in the roof of the compressor compartment. This timer is covered by a small square plastic box which is secured to the roof of the compressor compartment by two screws. The fire seem to start when water in the freezer compartment drains into the defrost timer cover through the socket and as there is no drain holes in the bottom of the timer cover, it starts to flood and shorts out the timer.
If this is the case, its very bad design, as someone who worked in the marine electronic industry for nearly 40 years I know that you always make a small drain hole in junction boxs to let out any water.
I will know more about the problem tomorrow.

[abuchan43]

Re: Beko Fridge / Freezer fires

Thanks to everbody for the information, If I have anymore information after the engineer has been on Thursday I’ll post it here,

[abuchan43]

Re: Beko Fridge / Freezer fires

I don’t intend to ‘mess’ with it I would just like to know were the fire is likely to start, but it seems to be a secret that no one in the refrigeration industry wants to get out!
I heard from Beko yesterday that they are coming to modify the fridge/freezer on Thursday. (Impressed!)

[abuchan43]

Re: Beko Fridge / Freezer fires

I still don’t know were the timer is located! Is it that white plastic box next to the compresser?
Nothing yet from Beko as to when they are coming to fix the problem.

[abuchan43]

Re: Beko Fridge / Freezer fires

I have done that!
Beko say that it should be alright to use unless I notice anything ‘unusual’! What do they mean by unusual, smoke, flames, flooding?
There are 500000 of these units out there and Beco have only fixed 11000, so I can’t see mine being fixed for some time. In the meantime my wife is not sleeping properly, expecting the fridge to burst into flames in the middle of the night. As an electronics technician I would like to know were the fire is likely to start, before it actually happens!

I have now fitted a smoke detector over it for my wife’s peace of mind.

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